Pedal geeks i need u (help jjjusten make decisions about awesome pedals for his store)

So, this is just an in general inquiry to anyone who feels like responding. . .

(and I should preface this by saying that, in my experience, most fuzz pedals sound pretty much the same. . . I'm not saying that I'm right about that, I've just not got the nuanced ear that I guess it takes to distinguish between them)

I'm in the market for a fuzz pedal. My general ideas wants about fuzzes and would be something along these lines:

— I just want to step on something and get distortion right away, mostly for leads and single note lines. Right now, I have two Boss drive pedals that I use for these purposes: an SD-1 and a BD-2. I'm very happy with these pedals, but I would like something that just breaks up immediately and is a little more hot.

— I don't like how Big Muffs sound. To me, that is a way too harsh sound. There is no amount of highs that can be rolled off to make that pedal sound like what I'm shooting for.

— I had a Fuzzface once. It was one of the red mini ones. To me, it sounded just like the nano Big Muff I had for a while.

— Ideally, whatever fuzz I end up with would be a very smooth sounding distortion. What I think I mean by that (because, I am not entirely clear, to be honest) is that I would like a nice mid-focused tone. Not necessarily mid BOOSTED, but at least a flatter, non-scooped EQ profile.

Right now, I'm considering one of the Fulltones: 69, 70, or the Soulbender. I did have their Secret Freq, because of the lure of the "Freq" knob. But, that proved to be more of a straight ahead high gain overdrive / distortion pedal. And the "Freq" knob was a little too much for me, as it started to sound like a wah or other type of filter and lost quite a bit of its musicality because of that. I'm definitely open to other options, though.

Fuzzes I've played in the past (and reasons for disliking them) are:
*Nano Big Muff (too scooped, too shrill)
*Dunlop Fuzzface Mini (same)
*Catalinbread Karma Suture (the pink one; it was decent, but would get fizzy sometimes)

I'm playing either my Fender Mexican Telecaster or Mexican Duo-Sonic into the normal channel of my Vox AC15. And I run the Fulltone Full-Drive 2 MOSFET in vintage + MOSFET mode as an always on boost.

Any thoughts?

You should get a distortion not a fuzz. I think you's be happier.

I was in the same boat as Austin - just could not get a musical sound from a Big Muff or whatever (yeah all this sound is grebt but where's the NOTE?).

So I agree with EZ. Amp distortion or Blues Driver breakup generally provides enough dirt for my needs; oddness can come from somewhere else. Distortion plus mild phaser, for example, or overdrive plus flange, gets me "dirt plus weird" as well as a fuzz can in most cases.

I get that. I really do. But if there's one sound I just cannot get behind, it's overdriven and distorted tones into modulation. I have never liked it, don't like it now, and never will like it. So, that's out of the question.

Another thing I'm considering is the MXR Variac Fuzz.

Also, EZ, do you have any specific recommendations for a straight ahead disto pedal? Presumably something with more detailed EQing possibilities than the average two or three knob drive pedal?

Also, I recently bought an MXR Doubleshot distortion used and it was not that great. One channel was like the Secret Freq, in the sense that the mids were so boosted, it bacem like a filter effect. The other channel was just too fizzy, and no amount of turning the highs down could help with that, unless the gain was all the way anticlockwise (which, at that point, it just became a boost, which defeats the purpose).

I think fuzz and distortion are hard to recommend. “Too fizzy” is what I look for in a fuzz!

Honestly, pick up a good Rat or Rat clone. Everyone makes variants of that circuit; look for one that has a voice you like and/or tone shaping that will help you get it where you want.

Fuzzrocious Cat Tail is a great Rat clone with lots of options for dialing it in to your tastes.

Have you played with EQ pre fuzz to get what you want?

Yardbox! I used it in place of amp distortion for a while, and it worked equally great for leads and chords.

agree RAT is the gold standard. also despite my current mixed feelings if you like fuzz but want something closer to distortion, Catalinbread Katzenkönig is fantastic.

I think what you think you know about categories of effects is messing you up. Don't read, try stuff out and buy what you like. Dunno how to help you if you can't try stuff out!

Try running the fuzz into the BD-2 set on mild breakup. This will smooth out the harsh tones from the fuzz.

And +1 on the Rat, they can sound halfway between a fuzz and an OD. But still try the stacking option above, you’ve already got drives and you can get a muff for like 50 €/$.

So, what I did was went to Guitar Center first thing after work yesterday, because GAS, and found a used MXR Custom Modified Overdrive. Wow, that thing can get LOUD. But anyway, I liked how it colored my tone just being used as a boost, so I put that first in my chain after my tuner. Then I switched the Full-Drive to stack on top of the MXR, but what I did is just dime the Drive and Boost knobs and keep the boost always engaged. So, when that gets fired up, it's a decent-to-good faux fuzz. It sounds kind of like this.

The MXR Modified OD had some sort of damage to the power input to where any of the smallest little jostling would disconnect the power and the pedal would go out. So when I would step on it, sometimes it would stay on, sometimes not. I returned it. Too bad, as it's a solid drive pedal.

Anyway, as is abundantly clear by now, I will lay down and spread my legs for just about any delay pedal ever. I was very excited to see that the Guitar Center I was returning the MXR to had one of the newer-ish TC Electronic budget delays in the case. The one I was eyeing was the Gauss Tape Echo, so I went for it. And, let me tell you, for a $70 tape echo emulator, it's fucking sweet. I like it even more than the tape emulator modes on the Flashback. It can go fully wet, has up to like three seconds maximum delay time, and gets into self-oscillation. I've been looking around for a good delay where I can set the repeats just on the verge of self-oscillation, just drifting off slowly and dissipating in fidelity along the way. The Gauss is definitely capable of that. It does have a bit of a volume drop when you engage it, but other delays I've played on tended to do that too (Electro-Harmonix Memory Toy, Malekko 616 LoFi, Wampler Ethereal, and some others), so I'm used to it. Overall, it's a pretty great sound and hard to believe the price.

Matt at idiotbox has finally finished up mystery effect #6. #5 was a blast of a light ring mod so can't wait to see what this one does.

In my constant dealings rotating and trading in pedals, I ended with the TC Flashback 2. It was cool! The Mash function was hard to deal with. It did something different with every different mode and / or TonePrint, so it was really difficult to pin down just exactly how it worked. In addition, it treated the (standard size) footswitch essentially as an expression pedal, so it had a learning curve, to say the least. The more of these newer delays that I play on, the more I realize how much the Carbon Copy Deluxe really is ideal for me.

So, I took the Flashback 2 back and got a Rat. It sounds really good! I was surprised, honestly. Definitely a more high gain distortion than I would normally play on, but the Filter knob can really cut out the fizziness that I don't like.

I stopped into the Guitar Center by my work down in Lake Forest the other day and they had a TC Mojomojo Overdrive in the used case for $30, so I decided to get that to go after the Gauss Tape Echo and make up for the volume drop. Just using it as a utility clean boost and it works well to get the Gauss back to unity.

Unless somebody does a cheap bit crusher or lofi delay anytime soon, I actually feel like my pedal chain is pretty solid at this point.

Rat is good on low-gain too.

It really is! I am very pleasantly surprised. It sounds good on my Telecaster, which I have really heavy flatwound chrome strings on. I also have pretty thick flatwound chromes on my Duo-Sonic, but I have a package of NYXL 11-56s sitting around that I may put on it tomorrow, just to do something different. I've been playing flatwounds on both of my guitars for months, so perhaps I should switch things up.

Downsized again yesterday and traded a bunch of pedals for a Catalinbread Bicycle Delay. I literally have no idea what I'm doing. Still, that thing is rad. It's like a seriously weird delay and ring modulator in one. I actually kind of love it.

Back down to about twelve pedals now. A few months ago, I was running three maxed out VooDoo Lab Pedal Power Plus units in excess of twenty pedals. That was just out of control. I'm not sure what I was trying to do.

So, wow. I got curious about getting a Boss Slow Gear type auto-swell pedal. I looked into the new TC Electronic Crescendo thing, but some of the reviews indicate that it has a volume drop (which seems to be a common occurrence in a lot of TC's newer budget line, unfortunately). Also considered the Malekko Sneak Attack, but it's kind of beyond my budget for that sort of thing and does a lot of other stuff that I'm not necessarily wanting. So, I finally just looked at a proper passive volume control pedal and ended up going with the Jim Dunlop Volume (X) pedal. Why didn't I get a volume pedal years ago!?? It is so useful for my style of playing! Really a ton of fun to play on. It's been a long time that I've had a new pedal that just makes me want to sit down and noodle around with. I've been so focused lately on creating really structured songs that revolve around my looper that I've not just played around with sketches and let my mind wander. It's been really refreshing. And it's such a simple thing. I've convinced myself that I'm not coordinated enough to manipulate something with my feet while I'm also manipulating my guitar with my hands that I have been afraid of getting something like a volume pedal. And, thankfully, I was wrong. It's come to me a thousand times more easily than I had envisioned. Really been having fun doing slow major seventh swells into the Bicycle Delay. After first getting the Bicycle Delay set up and messing around with it, I was kind of worried about practical application of it. But after getting that Volume (X) pedal dialed in, I've found something that is inspiring and sounds very cool and different.

Good times.

I think my GAS is slowing down, but I got a BOSS MD-500, and it's cool, but pretty overwhelming! So many options and routing options...

I don't even remember now the chain of events that lead to me having about $100 in store credit at Guitar Center, which they put onto a gift card for me so I could use it online if I wanted. I've reverted back to MXR and Boss' multi-mode reverbs, the M300 and the RV-6. I dabbled into all sorts of weird reverbs and delays over the past year (mostly Earthquakers and Catalinbreads), only to discover that I just prefer the variety offered on the multi-mode boxes, without diving too deep into something all-consuming, like an RV-500 or a Strymon. I love my MXR and Boss reverbs and I've officially bought each of those pedals twice now. Still, even though they are multi-mode, I can only use one at a time on each pedal, so I considered using my store credit to pick up another solid reverb. Really scoured the used listings on the Guitar Center website and finally came across an older version one of the Tech 21 Boost R.V.B. pedal. It's technically only a single "mode" reverb, but with six knobs covering some very unique parameters, it can go from a faux spring sound to a huge cathedral drone. I've hit a really sweet spot with it where, depending on how much modulation and delay I run into it, it almost sounds like I've got an orchestra backing me. I posted about this song elsewhere on here early today, but that aspect really comes to fruition on a recent recording I did here. I've always really revered the early David Axelrod albums on Capitol and the affiliated stuff he did work on (mostly thinking of the Electric Prunes album Release of an Oath). Other music nerds I've crossed paths with over the years —many of whom I've tried to get into Axe— would often tell me that the big string and horn charts playing those huge, yearning melodies was a bit cheesy and over the top to them. I never understood that, as it always seemed to me like such intentionally beautiful music; very much of a genuine origin with the committed effort of just trying to create something gorgeous and resonating. I never ever considered myself to be anywhere near understanding or even attempting to do something similar to Axe's music, but nonetheless it's always been a source of a lot of inspiration in making my own music. Mostly just inspiring me to not be afraid of making something that may be considered corny or sappy sounding; especially if I have a strong personal connection to the music. Getting the Boost R.V.B. pedal and recording that new version of that song has really opened my eyes and ears in a way I've not really ever experienced before. It's like I was searching for a pedal that would do what the Boost R.V.B. is now doing, but I didn't know that's what I was searching for until I got the pedal dialed in. Again, I'm not saying that music I'm making now is even anywhere near as competent —not to mention, as good— as the David Axelrod stuff I hold so dear; but I do feel like I'm taking steps towards that. I also recently finally stopped messing with autowahs and envelope filters and got a proper wah pedal. It's the Dunlop Crybaby 535Q in the mini housing. Still a lot to learn on that one, but I'm already glad I made the switch.

The Malekko swell pedal I had was pretty bad. The best thing for that sound was actually a preset on the Pod 2.0, so I assume that sound is included in the line 6 echo park which you can probably find cheap and in strymon and other mega delays.

Pretty happy with my volume pedal and, I have to admit, now that I've played on one, I can't imagine leaving that function up to an "auto pilot" of sorts. I like being completely in control of that.

Goddamnit, Moog discontinues the Moogerfooger pedals - https://reverb.com/news/moog-announces-end-of-moogerfooger-pedals-a-look-back-at-what-made-them-so-great

Idiotbox Mystery #6 seems to be a bit crusher with a frequency divider and maybe a detuner? If that's what Matt was going for the MWFX Glitch and Judder are both better, and there's a couple of wavetables on the Geiger Counter that achieve similar things.

Did a bunch of trading this weekend. Down one guitar (traded in my Duo-Sonic) and four pedals (MXR Tap, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, ProCo RAT2, TC Electronic MojoMojo) and got two new pedals (MXR Custom Badass Variac Fuzz and Earthquaker Devices Avalanche Run). Both the Variac Fuzz and Avalanche Run are great pedals that I've had in the back of my mind for a while. I was a little apprehensive about going fully digital with the Avalanche Run, but the features it offers really outweigh any potential cons in that regard. It's a really powerful pedal and I have had a great time with it so far, but I do feel like I've not even scratched the surface of what it's completely capable of.

Didn't keep the Avalanche Run. Talked about it in the other thread, but when I had the Flashback X4, I was kind of settling, as the one I really wanted was the Triple Flashback. Things changed, so I was able to get a used Triple Flashback and it rules so fucking hard. I talked above about not feeling like I'd unlocked a lot of the capabilities of the Avalanche Run and that feeling is magnified on the Triple Flashback. I seriously don't understand how generally under-mentioned the Triple Flashback is; it's suck a powerful pedal. It's an instrument unto itself, really. A quick listen to my recent recordings will pretty much confirm that.

Also, I took a chance on a used (now out-of-production) Fulltone Choralflange. I traded in my old Boss CE-3 to get it and I'm really glad I did. As much as I love the CE-3 and respect it as a classic effect, it is not the most unique chorus tone. The Choralflange is a little less. . . I don't know, "sterile" sounding? Like, it just sounds a bit less shrill. I don't really care for the flanger side of the pedal, but I'm keeping my old BF-2 for now. I probably should have kept the MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, as it had a pretty great flanger side in it. Oh well. Do love the Choralflange, though. It's just reminiscent enough of the classic chorus sounds from the 80s that I'm going for, with enough of its own sort of timbre that I'm really loving it. Not a very well-known pedal, I have to say. Especially considering how well-known Fulltone is otherwise.

Borrowing a pedal that replicates the preamp of a Sunn Beta Lead from a company in Russia. Sounds gnarly when on, but there's a huge drop in volume when it's off - the pictures online show 'bypass' but this one just has 'on/off' in its place, so I'm guessing I need a buffer in front of it?

Immediately bought a Earthquaker Swiss Things today. It's finally come to this.

I like that but it's too much for me to splurge on something just to make things tidier when I'm a knob twiddler anyway.

In other pedal news, Matt at Idiot box has launched what I can only describe as a pedal patreon with an experimental small batch/prototype pedal every month.

Pedals have gotten a lot smaller since I was last in the pedal-buying game.

I’ve been sorting my (guitar) pedal board after buying a new board at Christmas. It’s mostly populated with my old pedals (the Electroharmonix Pulsar tremolo is HUGE) but have added a couple of new things: the EHX Russian Big Muff re-issue (it’s small and sounds a hell of a lot better than the Double Muff I’ve had for years) and the EHX Grand Canyon delay/looper. The Grand Canyon is a lot smaller (and therefore fiddlier) than I expected it to be.

Drool

i think my rat pedal, which i've had for ... 25ish years, finally broke

rip big man

thank you for your service.✌🏻

probably an easy fix. symptoms?

Mostly likely an easy fix unless an IC melted or something.

the jacks seems loose/wobbly? that's the only thing i noticed. i can pop it open and see if any wires have disconnected, but sound comes through in bypass mode which doesn't seem like it would happen if that was the case

http://quartzcity.net/ilx/2019pedalboard.jpg

Changed some things up Feel like I promoted myself from starship commander to admiral. I use two amps so the Swiss Things was a natural. Had a breakthrough with the Moog Drive and suddenly everything came together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJbl3RU3O7A

Wasn't sure where else to put this, because he's obviously been the bass player for Mars Volta and other bands, but I figure he's probably best know among the guitar pedal community. Juan Alderete is in a coma following a bicycle accident. He's always seemed like an immensely positive guy, so I hope he pulls through.

https://www.facebook.com/JuanAldereteBass/photos/a.146765125457270/1817890465011386/?type=3&theater

Hi everyone - this is Anne, Juan's wife. While I generally hesitate to share personal details on social media, it felt right to include all of you who've supported Juan over the years as friends, fans, fellow music (and food, cat, bike, Japan) lovers and musicians.

Juan was in a solo (no cars, other people) and very serious bicycle accident on 1/13/20 not far from our home. He - as always - was wearing a helmet and protective clothing but sustained serious head trauma in the form of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); his form of TBI is Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) and as of today, he remains in a coma.

The only prognosis is to wait and see, as the brain is a complicated organ and the outcomes for DAI patients has a range as wide as the sea. While frustrating, it also allows for a world of positive outcomes so we can only hope for the best.
We know you have questions, concerns, thoughts to share, so please feel free to leave them in the comments (not DM please, sorry) here. We're also very eager to hear from neurologists, medical professionals with experience in DAI and TBI, first-person accounts of similar trauma and outcomes - essentially any useful, factual and accurate resources that relate to Juan's injury. If you have any of these, please DM me (Anne) @tunatoast.

We will post updates here from time to time. Thank you all and please keep Juan in your thoughts. - xo, Anne

attn pedalheads: zvex.com is running 20% off all standard versions of their entire stock right now. don't know how long it's going to run for.

i picked up a vibrophase after coveting it from afar for over a year. i was trying to maybe catch one in one of the used cases around my neck of the woods, but that ain't happenin`, 'specially not now. it's a rad pedal. more of a wacky filter thing that can do a variation on vibrato than a more traditional phase 90 type effect. if i had to compare it to something else, i'd say it's kind of reminiscent of earthquaker's interstellar orbiter, with fewer parameters to control. i bought it thinking it would replace my phase 95, but it's unique enough to merit keeping both the phase 95 and the vibrophase. i'd love to get a lofi junky, but the vibrophase was my one quarantine splurge, so unless i'm able to go back to work and start getting paychecks again soon, that also ain't happenin`.

anyway, good deals to be had i reckon.

nice. i have the mastotron and love it.

Is anyone on here into building pedals? I've built a few FuzzDog kits in recent weeks and enjoyed it, even if it's a bit like doing an Airfix kit. I did study electronics and circuit design, but that was quite a few years ago, I'm building up to building from scratch.

Fulltone guy is a chud

icymi
fulltone pedals made by garbage human. do not support them 👎 pic.twitter.com/UA2CaPQ4I4

— Andy Molholt (@laserbackground) June 3, 2020

It's a good thing that their most popular pedal is available in a Chinese bootleg for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/JOYO-Ultimate-Overdrive-Electric-Distortion/dp/B07RL1VKYW/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2KB52F1YFUSBQ&dchild=1&keywords=joyo+ultimate+drive&qid=1591539667&sprefix=joyo+ultiate+%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExWjRCVFJFTkxTRTBGJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDI1MTk2M1YxSjBLMkRMT0M1TyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDA0MjkyRDhBMFhPVDNMQlJOJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

he’s been posting apologies that are weirdly kind of much better than most apologies... but too little too late GC is taking Fulltone off the shelves.